There was a time when I used to have an opinion on everything unimportant and a fierce disdain for everything that wasn’t. Let’s see if that has changed. For the last few days, I have been inviting a lot of flak for my anti Anna drama status updates on Facebook. I said maybe next time vote too, and people stormed into my Facebook wall and pissed all over it. Much like Anna himself. Only, he storms out. Which is a better option.

I will vote. I will also not fast unto death. I will not hit the roads and scream hoarse against politicians. Because hello, didn’t I just say that this drama will not change anything? On Facebook, I am polite and I tell people that I just hope they are right. But in my head I know they are not. Removing corruption from a country of 2 billion people is not something that can be achieved one fine morning when a senile old man (who I sort of agreed with at the beginning of the drama. Yes, I am going to continue calling it that.) decides to scream hoarse. If you really needed him to remind you of everything that is not right, WERE YOU BLOODY SLEEPING? Or were you too busy paying your donations, and repaying your debts because of the donations, driving like mad asses because of the stress of debt, donations, fake HRA bills and such, and then paying your way out of driving tickets? The only point of view I have agreed with so far in the drama is this “Perhaps we shouldn’t even be talking about a big change. Perhaps the little changes would work just as well. Let’s wait and see. Or rather, let’s not wait and see. Let’s go out there and do our bit. How I wish guns were freely available in this country!” You can read the rest of it here. I also agreed with this, although manu Joseph does not feature in the list of my top 10 most favourite journalists.

I have EMIs to pay, and let’s be honest here, I am not particularly passionate about changing the world. So contesting an election was out years ago. So was UPSC. I don’t want to get my hands dirty. I love my life too much to give it up for something I only feel occasionally enthusiastic about. I will also not join the anti corruption pages on Facebook because, you know, I am not that stupid. I will ONLY vote. Of course I am going to live in India for the rest of my life or at least for most part of it, although that backpacking trip will not hurt. I love the heat and dust and monsoon and panipuri and national highways and Indian Railways and Patna and Bangalore and Bombay and rasgullas and papad and the Arabian Sea and Ma and Dad too much to ever get away from it all. So I will only vote. And if the corrupt bastards steal my money, I will just make more of it. Honestly. Deal with it. That is my solution. And trust me, that is the solution that most people will have left after the drama gets over. Because as discussed in previous chapters, guns are not easily available in the country and murder is still illegal.

Cynical? Oh yes, when it comes to this, I am. I like to call it objectivity. You can blame the guy who asked me to read my first Ayn Rand many years ago. I skipped (not literally) a huge part of Atlas Shrugged. That was not my style. Being an average middle class Indian, is.

3 Responses to An average middle class Indian

for every action of corruption, there is usually an equal criticism. but then again, some of the stuff that happens are beyond the common man. which is whre voting comes into play. the “senile old man” may not end corruption, but at least he makes us little less indifferent citizens

The thing is voting may not fix our problems either b/c almost all politicians who contest elections are corrupt or have criminal cases pending against them. Not one is untainted. So unless we have politicians with clean records to vote for, voting is going to be about choosing the lesser of the two evils.